I plan on trying it. I've got a touch of arthritis in my hands, and some people argue that nightshades exacerbate arthritis. Every time I try to go tomato free to see if it helps, tomato sauce is what drags me back down. And did I mention that my husband and kids eat grasshoppers? So, they have no gastronomical stones to throw. :001_smile:

I'm in Texas, so that's the one thing you could say to convince me that just maybe, I'd have hopped on a prayed the whole way. :D

With that last line, you actually managed to irritate me, and I haven't been irritated throughout this thread. From YOUR perspective, sure. But you're NOT a homeschooler. I believe I saw a snarky comment from you earlier suggesting that homeschooling is a "lifestyle" that you don't understand. And yeah, maybe it is, at least the way some of us do things. We can work orally with children who can't write well yet, explain one-on-one instead of to a class, far more efficient time wise, choose how much time to spend on subjects based on the child's maturity and abilities, maybe have a light day and do a project or experiment instead, and yes, do a day's worth of subjects in just a couple of hours. THEN, the child will do some reading. As many have stated, that's not part of what I considered the formal instruction part of our day. It's generally not for public schooled students, either; it's usually homework. Then they give me an informal oral narration of said reading, usually without me even asking. I don't think even my 16yos understands the "narration" aspect. They're just talking to mom, and mom is just listening. See? Not part of the formal instruction time, nothing I wouldn't be doing if they were in school. Writing, for the older kids, is something that would be homework for PS students. For the younger ones, though, it doesn't take long. My 9yos is taking longer lately because I'm letting him type his own narrations now, but still, it's not a huge amount of time. Add up all of this time, and it might be closer to a public school day. But that would be an unfair comparison, since there would be no "homework" involved. As I said earlier in this thread, we either homeschool a few hours a day, or every waking hour. It depends on how you look it.

This. It's just. not. that. hard. Where's the "fist banging on the table" smiley! :D

Please go re-read your post, because I can't figure out any other way to understand it. I'd be happy to try to understand what you were saying. From my POV, it was not clear at all.

I started to respond, but I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. You don't honestly believe that everyone needs some sort of "socialization" in order to interact respectfully with others, do you? We handle this according to our belief system by teaching, quite simply, that people AREN'T different. Sure, they may come in different colors, believe different things, and have different abilities, but we treat them all with respect, the way we want to be treated. I never understand why people think this is an issue.

Seriously, has no one mentioned this, or did I just miss it? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/would-you-board-the-666-flight-to-hel-on-friday-the-13th-8815289.html On Friday the 13th, no less. But passengers on flight 666 to HEL had a calm flight over the Baltic at this time of year. Some posted pictures online of their luggage stickers with ironic slogans such as "I survived Flight 666" :lol: I try not to be superstitious, but I just don't know if I could have gotten on that flight.

SWB has written on this subject herself. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/charlotte-mason-education/ I'm not an expert on either method. There are definitely many similarities, but there are some serious differences in how they use terminology. For instance, SWB (I believe) recommends children mostly write summaries instead of full narrations, while CM recommended narrations. CM also wrote against the type of dictation that SWB recommends, arguing for prepared dictation instead. Both emphasize living books over text books. I think they can look very similar, or very different, depending on how individuals INTERPRET each of them. :-) Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable will comment.

Thank you for giving specific examples, Bill. I say the following to reiterate a previous point, that many of the activities that you feel a parent couldn't replicate, I personally wouldn't want to replicate. This is NOT to bash your child's opportunities in any way. You're lucky to have the opportunities where you are in art and music, definitely. We have a harder time with that. For much of the rest of it, we do some similar things, and I disapprove of other parts of it. I asked for specifics, so I'll give specifics. Namely, we also cover reading through real books instead of bits of books. Actually, we even teach grammar through literature. But, we don't—won't—do creative writing, with writing prompts or otherwise, and we don't do spelling or vocabulary lists. I consider them wastes of time. We study phonograms and do prepared dictation for spelling, which is far more efficient in my opinion, and vocabulary just happens as one reads more. Writing begins through imitation, building up to persuasive essays. I ought to post my oldest son's retelling of The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bats, retold in the style of Lovecraft. It's a hoot. And it's amazing how much children absorb about good writing through both reading and imitating good writing over the course of years. Really, most of our studies are literature and living book based. We currently have a family wide world geography through literature study going. Maps are during formal lesson times, but the literature portion is our evening read-aloud. Science and history consist of spines and lots of additional reading. Sometimes we do experiments, sometimes we do a project. I don't consider those as important as some do, though the boys like them when we do. We do talk a lot about what we're learning, often as a family since everyone is doing the same time period and branch of science. We have a farm. Hands on botany and zoology are constant. We're also off-grid, so discussions about solar power, water, and taking care of the environment are also pretty regular. This morning, while my 12yos was telling me about what he'd read about Ford and the automobile, we had a discussion on the phrase "cranking" one's car. I knew this one. For others, we head over to Prof. Google's class and do a quick search. We don't have a lot of computer time, but again, that's because I mostly consider it unnecessary. That's another argument for another day. ;) My son who is most interested in graphic design, my 12yos, had what he called "Experiment House" where he explored Microsoft Word and learned how to handle the basics plus. I'm also teaching both the older boys InDesign, though only the younger seems interested in Photoshop and Illustrator. My 9yos only does his typing, dictations, and narrations on the computer so far. I bet if we could create an objective standard of comparison, your kid would come out ahead in some areas of opportunity, and mine in others. And for some things mentioned, we simply disagree on whether they're opportunities or time wasters. :-) So again, my point: The parts of your child's day that I consider worth emulating are things that we can, and do, include at home. There are other aspects that I simply don't want for my children. We save the time those activities take. By not trying to do all subjects every single day (as many, though not all, schools do), plus having a very small class size, we can cover a remarkable amount in a short period of time. And here, I'm comparing formal instructional time to formal instructional time. Reading is going to take more time, and special projects/experiments are certainly not daily. As they get older, writing and math take longer. But yes, even having seen an example of the day in the life at a good school, I believe that we give at least comparable opportunities in 2 hours for the younger grades.

I just told the family that I had a recipe to try, but I might have to try it in secrecy and spring it on them unawares because it's weird. I was reminded that they caught, fried, and ate grasshoppers earlier this summer. Still, it's beets and pumpkin.

That's how my 16 year old described writing for children a while back--the same as for everyone else, but with more exclamation points. I don't know why that compulsion is there. I can only say if feels right at the time. :001_smile:

I was about to cheer you, but after reading the recipe, I'm giving you a squinty-eyed suspicious look. ;) Seriously? It doesn't taste weird?

I rest my case. :party:

My husband said, on his forum, someone would say... ...It's light blue. ...It's dark blue. ...It's been this color of blue clearly since [enter name of President you don't like] was elected. ...It's not really blue at all, it's just the way it looks because of [science technobabble]. ...In Revelations, it says that the current color of the sky indicates end times.

Sweetheart, if you go start a thread about whether the sky is light blue or dark blue, I bet you'll get at least two pages of debate. :P

:lol: :lol:

I don't understand why it wouldn't. I also hope you don't expect homeschoolers to not be able to speak freely about homeschooling, why we homeschool, and why we don't like public schools. None of us has to agree. Having strong opinions is not the same as being disrespectful to others. I try not to say intentionally hurtful things. However, I'm also not afraid of speaking my opinion. In the interests of peace and fairness, I would never go to a predominately public school forum and begin bashing the PS system. OTOH, I don't see any reason to censor myself regarding my feelings about PS on a forum about home education.

I'm guilty of having said this. :D Partly, I'm being facetious because I do truly hate public schools. Like anyone else who has rejected an institution because of abuse both received and seen, it's not a position I will apologize for, and I have difficulty being rational about it. *shrug* Generally speaking, I just avoid the topic among people who use public schools. When I've said this, it's generally been to people who thought educating one's children was way too much for parents to handle, and it wasn't ALL I said. It was followed by, "Do a little math, do a little grammar, and then READ, READ, READ." But, there's an underlying presupposition on my part that makes me believe that statement, and it's my belief that family relationships are best fostered full time rather than part time, and that the bonds built while homeschooling trump any amount of formal schooling. I hope it goes without saying that I'm not talking about your friendly neighborhood meth-head here. And as both of us have stated before, I also think kids who get too much screen time are going to have a hard time regardless of where they're being educated.

Honestly, you still haven't given an example of what I can't duplicate. Or rather, what you think I'd want to, because you seem to be working on the presupposition that just because it rocked for y'all, that other people would care about the same activities. And I'm not sure why you think I'm defensive. I disagree with you, but Bill, I've been doing this for more than a decade. I am happy where I am, wouldn't trade places with you for the world, and I'm content that you feel the same way. :-) What I do feel is frustrated that you're telling other homeschoolers here, many of whom don't have years of experience under their belts to call on, they they can't do it as well. Maybe that's not your intention, but it is how it comes off. The reality is quite simply which experiences we each feel are most important. I reject the ones you obviously find most important, if they can only be found in the classroom. And you reject mine as less important. That's okay. If y'all were just arguing the pros and cons of different types of activities, honestly, I probably would have gotten bored with the discussion and wandered off instead of commenting. But when you start arguing that no one could possibly do what a good public school can do, well then I want to argue, because of that presupposition in there that I would want to. Make my bon-bons 70% dark chocolate, but you can keep the Warmindcraft. :-)

My kids work through the summer. The difference is the way the hours add up. During the school year, the majority of a child's time is spent on going to school, doing homework, and meeting the essentials for life (eating and sleeping). That's a huge number of hours. How many hours are left for the child to engage in creative play and pursuing his own interests? See, hours are limited. Then there's the stress factor. You can call it something else if you like, but children need some downtime, too. Creative play and pursuing one's own interests generally don't happen when one is tired and possibly stressed. That leaves children with summertime. EXCEPT, now many are getting school work then, too. Of course, I maintain an earlier argument that I made, that children who have been so limited in opportunities for creative play and pursuing their own interests are going to have a more difficult time getting back to that place in the quarter of a year they have to themselves. Your child participated in a school newspaper. My oldest son is writing a book on zoology for young children. The next two make board games. Opportunities abound, wherever one is. I am not a Super Mom, though I may make my children call me that for the rest of the day. It saddens me that you feel like you couldn't do what I do every day. Ten years ago, *I* couldn't do the things I do now, and I didn't know the things I know now. I grow and learn with my children. Bottom line: I have yet to see one single thing mentioned here that made me think, "Aw. I wish I could provide that." And don't get me wrong; I do occasionally hear about some awesome event that I wish we could replicate. But I can't think of one that a public school provided. Y'all can love your public schools. I'm not asking you not to. You're certainly free to think your child is getting better there than mine is at home. I have no chip on my shoulder about homeschooling. I am the freakiest of freaky homeschoolers who wouldn't trade it for anything. That's not what this argument is about, not for me. What I believe, from experiences in the classroom as a child as well as in the homeschool as a parent, is that public schools can never give back as much as they take away. For every awesome class project, an opportunity for an equally awesome project tailor-made to the child's needs and interests was lost.

After spending all this time telling us how it would be hard for homeschoolers to replicate the PS atmosphere, the example you finally give is that the teacher is trying to simulate homeschool. :lol:

I'm not sure if this fits the bill, but my oldest three have all loved Red Sails to Capri. I don't think it's pure comedy in the way that some of these others are, but it got some laughs nonetheless.

FTR, she does mention these things in History of the Ancient World. I think she keeps the nastiness to a minimum for the littles, which I personally appreciate. They pick up enough cynicism with me as their mother.

It makes my eyes cross, and I suspect I drool a little.

As Tara pointed out, these are just course descriptions. I could write a similar one to describe what we do every year. These are just written in eduspeak, which I normally avoid like the plague. One of the major differences, unless your children are in a truly exceptional school, is that my children will be interacting with these types of topics through the medium of quality literature instead of textbooks. To me, this makes a huge difference.